


Cyber & Saber

by Yemi Hikari (Yemi_Hikari)



Series: Human on the Team [7]
Category: G.I. Joe: Sigma Six (Cartoon), X-Men Evolution
Genre: Friendship, Gen, High School, New School, Placement Testing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2008-10-11
Updated: 2017-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:34:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25177738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yemi_Hikari/pseuds/Yemi%20Hikari
Summary: Now that Abernathy is part of the X-men, he and Kitty Pryde need codenames. And who's that prowling around town and smells like some prehistoric animal?
Series: Human on the Team [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1799668
Collections: MinorFandomFest, Platonic Relationships





	1. Welcome to Bayville

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Misfit Chronicles](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/645994) by Red Witch. 



> Disclaimer – I don't own X-Men Evolution or G.I. Joe Sigma 6.

_Dear Journal –_

_I think I need to come up with a name for you other then Journal or Diary. I mean, that is so boring! How about combining it into J.D, or D.J? I like D.J. for now, as it has to do with one of my favorite things to do, DANCING! So, until I change my mind, your going to be called D.J. Hope you like the name though._

_Anyways, yesterday was completely cool, yet completely uncool at the same time. My powers, they are real and defiantly no fluke. I can also use them, well, sort of. But I am sure now I can get the hang of them, well, sort of. I am Kitty Pryde, so there… I think. If Riley were here, she'd tell me I'll just mess up._

_But Lance… that boy, I think his name was. Well, her didn't think I was useless like Riley, which kind of surprised me. Of course, he could have only found me useful to get into the school computer room. Something told me though he was sincere about saying those things about not knowing what it is like to fit in._

_But as for fitting in, something tells me that he has had it a lot worse then me and has had problems with lots of things. I wonder what's going to happen with him, I think I might be a little worried about him, considering what happened. However, he wouldn't want me throwing a Kitty Pitty Party for him. Hey, I found a better definition for one of Riley's taunts!_

_I'm not at home now, but at the institute! It is the coolest place ever, with tons of rooms to play hide in seek in. Sorry if I sound childish, but I mean, hide and seek has always been my favorite games as a child and I can now ghost through walls and stuff, what an advantage!_

_Professor Xavier promised to never read my mind, though I don't know why… some of the kids in school said it was rather empty… kidding! Cyclops, he's an interesting person, but way too boring in personality, unless someone makes a REALLY good joke. Kurt is weird, I've found his blue hair in the drain in the bathroom… yuck! Can't he clean it up. Logan is Mr. I don't want to be disturbed._

_Storm is mondo cool and has the air of a queen. I think she may be a descendant of Nephrite or some other Egyptian queen. I want to learn how to put on makeup from her too. She wears quite a bit of color, but it looks good on her skin, so she must know what might look good on mine. Mum said I could start a little since I'm leaving home, but not too much! Oh, and not to tell dad of course._

_Jean is, well… I thought she was just like Riley. In the popularity thing, she is there, but she is also nice, but very demanding. Where Riley would give comments about how bad I look… well, Jean is wanting to give me a make over. I think it doesn't help her that I am the first other female student… so, I'll give her the benefit of the doubt on this one._

_Then there is Scott Abernathy and Spud. Scott is the non-human computer specialist on our team, or so I guess. I like his dog Spud… expesully when I found out I tend to mess up electronics, but with Spud… yippee! I don't mess up the doggie, which makes me mondo happy. Scott surmised that is because Spud is A.I., what ever that is. I only care that Spud and I are great friends._

_Anyways, I need to go get ready for school._

_\- Kitty Pryde_

**M**

Sabertooth had been smelling the faint smell of his enemy once he had gotten to Bayville, indicating that he had left the general area, but Sabertooth figured that he would come back, as it was a scent that seemed to flutter instead of fade, with different traces from the mans coming and goings.

He had then decided to sleep in the construction site, knowing that he would get the scoundrel on his tail soon enough. He was awoken by two construction workers, whom he bashed the heads in, then walked away to find some breakfast before seeing what mischief he could get into to attract the person to him… it wouldn't take much.

He came across a hotdog stand and grinned. He walked up, growling as he did. "Fork it over."

"A… a… all I have is change," the man stammered.

"Not the money," Sabertooth commented. "I want five dogs, tons of toppings, no charge."

"Ahh… ahh, yes sir," the man said, preparing the dogs and handing them to the monster of a man. Sabertooth chuckled, getting on his bike, some how holding all five in one hand and eating them at the same time… as he was driving away.

**M**

Scott Abernathy was clicking on the small communication device Mainframe had given him as a somewhat going away present. He hadn't realized that it was getting close to when school was about to start. "Hello?"

"Hello Scott. I wanted to let you know about what I found on the computer," Mainframe stated.

"Sure!" Scott said, excited.

"Well, looking through it, that kid that hacked the computers did in fact hack it twice. He was stole the test results, then he was going to go change someone's grade. I believe it was a Kitty Pryde's failing gym class grade. It's the only class she hasn't gotten straight A's in. I'm surprised that he hadn't tried to change his, his are so dismal… but they really wouldn't surprise me,"

"So… what do you know about him," Scott said.

"I'm not going to go prying about that," Mainframe said, laughing through the vid screen. He then paused. "Are you worried about something?"

"I'm just wondering what's happened to him. He doesn't seem that bad of a kid… just misguided… like some of the Joes," Scott said.

"Tell you what… I'll tell you where he's going since it popped up while I was doing this. Apparently he was scheduled for a transfer to Bayville over two weeks ago,"

"That's weird… as if… someone planed it," Scott said. "Xavier was holding back."

"Well, from what I can tell, it wasn't someone from the institute. The transfer is to some place called the brotherhood, or something. Don't go spreading theories around about someone planning on transferring him, not at least until I look into it. It's actually one of the things they have me looking into down at the café,"

"What café?" Scott asked.

"I think you'll hopefully hear more about it at school. Silence until then, but it is going to be one might say, our down base for the time being… and it's in Bayville,"

"Cool! I get to see you guys!"

"I guess… Scott, do you know what time it is?"

"No, why?" the boy asked.

"I just realized that your not ready for school yet, and you need to get going," Mainframe commented.

"Ahh shoot!" Scott said, hurrying off, then coming back to turn off the vid monitor and put it beside his bed.

**M**

Lance had been up and showering, getting ready for school. Mystique had given the news to him that he would be taking, of all things, placement testing, which made him not very happy. He had been in the shower for a while when the toilet flushed. "Todd Tolansky."

"Huh? What, yo!" Todd said suddenly snapping to attention. "I'm sorry dude! I was half asleep and didn't realize when I had to the bathroom."

"Man! I did _not_ need to know that!" Lance said, shaking his head.

"Well, sorry! Why the hell are you up so early?" Todd said. "I'm going back to bed."

Lance quickly turned off the shower, glad that all suds had already been washed away. He pulled the curtain away slightly. "You do know we have to go to school, no?"

"What do you mean? I'm all ways late!" Todd commented. "I mean, there is really no big deal, unless your fluffy. Hah… out of everybody, she seems to like to get on his case the most."

"Who the hell is fluffy?" Lance said, glaring at the boy.

"He's… I'll explain later," Todd said. "I'm going to bed."

"No you aren't," Lance said. "When I'm out of the shower and ready to go, you had better be ready too."

"Yeah right," Todd commented. "Really… I can't understand why you want to go to school at all… unless it's that girl that Mystique mentioned is going to be going here too… you know, the one you had a run it with?"

"Shut up!" Lance said, causing the walls to shake and Todd to scurry off. After the boy was gone, Lance got out of the shower and began to get dressed. Of course, he had to close the door first and the little bugger had gone and purposely taken the towels with him, so Lance's clothes were sopping up the water instead.

After he was finished he knocked on Todd's door. "Come on… we're going now."

"NO! You're not my mom! Or my dad for that matter!" Todd yelled through the door.

"Fine! If you don't want to come now, you'll have to walk to school," Lance said, beginning to walk down the stairs.

"Hold on… do you mean to tell me… you have your own vehicle?" Todd asked.

"Yeah… a jeep," Lance said, looking back at the cracked open door. Suddenly Todd was running down the stairs… or more of hopping.

"I get a ride to school! Woo hoo!" Todd said, going out the front door.

Lance, looking at Todd, thought that something was missing, but he couldn't place his finger on it. Then he realized Todd was still in his pajamas. This caused the boy to slap his head and march down the stairs. Today was going to be a long day.


	2. Running Late

Everyone was rushing around the institute even though they actually were on time to get to school. But the thing was, everything was crazy when it came to a school day at the X-mansion, mostly due to the different personalities of the all the institute students. Each student had a certain agenda to finish before they left for school.

The first thing that Jean Grey did everyday was brush her hair. The second thing was to make sure all of her books were in her bag. Step three was to eat her breakfast. Step four was to go back upstairs and brush her teeth. Step five was to grab her bag and head out the door to wait for whoever was going to give her a ride.

Kitty's first task that she tried to do was write in her journal. She figured if she could write in it each day she would get a good start. She would then organize her backpack to exact precision, she was more obsessive then Jean because she didn't want to forget anything important, expesully homework. Then she would work on her appearance and then go down to eat the food for breakfast.

Unfortunately for her, she ran into Kurt in the bathroom, who was obviously being made to clean out his hair from the drain before school started, which today made her not worry so much about her looks and instead head downstairs, skipping breakfast. She pulled out a book and sat on the bench outside of the entrance with Jean.

Since Kurt was cleaning out the drain, it took him awhile and he felt that this obligation would mean that since he rather had to grab breakfast as he was walking out, that older Scott might stop at the burger place and let him get a burger. He was near Kitty and she gave him a dirty look as he sprayed crumbs all over her.

The older Scott was busy trying to help the younger one get organized. While the child was defiantly a genius, he was one of the most scatter brained people he had ever met. Because of this, he needed a little extra help to get on the way and out the door, expesully when he got distracted by small things, like figuring out how to fix the toaster before Wolverine smashed it.

So, they all went out to big Scott's car and tossed their stuff in the car, except Jean. A honk came from the front drive way and she waved her hand at them. "My ride's here! I have to go! I'll meet you guys at school."

As Jean rushed to the front gate to meet Duncan, Kitty pouted. "I knew it was too good to be true. She takes off on my first day of school. That isn't fare."

"Vell, get used to it. Get used to the fact that guy Duncan cheats on her and she doesn't even know it," Kurt scoffed.

"Hold on!" Kitty said, shock on her face. "Jean's a telepath! She can't tell?"

"She refuses to read people's minds without their permission unless she absolutely has to," Scott commented.

"Hey… if Jean isn't coming, can Spud ride in one of the seats instead of the trunk," Abernathy asked. This caused all eyes to turn to him, including Wolverine that had just walked out.

"Please tell me you aren't taking that thing to school. Your father, if he was here, would kill me for letting you take it," the man said.

"I took him to my old school," Scott commented, confusion on his face.

"Cool!" Kurt said with excitement in his voice. "We can take the electronic dog!"

"The answer is no," Wolverine said picking up Spud and carrying him back into the house. When he came back, Kitty stuck her tongue out at him.

"You're such a spoil sport," she said, but Wolverine caught a scent and his focus was else where.

"Look, you guys get on to school. I have to go take care of something," he said, getting on his motorcycle.

As they saw him take off, Summers frowned. "He's up to something."

"Let's go follow him and find out," Kurt commented.

"If you're late again, you'll be in trouble with Darkholme personally," Summers said.

"Yeah… but I want to find out," Kitty muttered.

"Can you suit up in the trunk," Scott commented, trying to detour her from the whole thing.

"Yeah," Kitty said, phasing into the trunk. From inside a muffled sound was heard. "You guys had better hurry up and change."

Scott looked at her, or more of where she had gone, his jaw dropping. The younger Scott then spoke up. "The X-men uniforms are similar to the current Joe uniforms in that they are dual tones. They just don't have those cool technology built into the fabric.

"Thank you for the impute," Scott said not quite happy about where this was going.

**M**

Meanwhile, Lance was waiting in his jeep for Todd, counting the minutes for the younger mutant to get out. He turned on the engine, getting irritated that it was taking Todd so long, and he heard a frantic, wait for me as Todd hopped into the jeep next to him. "Yo, were you going to leave me?"

"Duh," Lance said, rolling his eyes at the mutant," as he backed out of the driveway.

"Ahh, man, why didn't you tear out!" Todd complained.

"Because I'm not stupid enough to ruin my car that way," Lance commented. He was driving down the road, paying close attention.

Meanwhile, a sewer cap opened up and pushed to the side and a head poked out with orange and red hair. He glanced around and then saw a bug crossing front of him. He wriggled up a bit and opened his mouth to eat the bug. It was then that he saw the jeep coming and popped down, tossing a bunch of spikes onto the road.

Lance saw the person having stuck their head out of the sewer opening and put on the brakes, not seeing the spikes on the road. The next thing he knew, the tires on his Jeep went pop as they rolled over the spikes. Lance's first reaction was for his eyes to go wide. Todd's action was to climb over Lance to look at the bug that the man poking his head was trying to eat and zapped it into his mouth.

"Yum! Good bug!" Toad commented, only to be shoved backwards and off a very annoyed Lance.

"Get off of me!" Lance grumbled. "That was one of the grossest, stupidest things I've seen! Eating a bug that you don't know where it came from."

A head then popped up from the grate, with its odd hair coloring. "Where'd the bug go? I was going to eat it."

Lance suddenly turned pail, as if he was going to be sick. Todd just looked skyward and whistled. As Lance was getting out of the car, he turned to the younger boy. "Looks like you found a friend Toad. Ouch!"

Lance suddenly found himself stepping on the spikes and he had to hop over to the sidewalk. He was quite happy about not stepping on anymore things as he pulled out a spike. He didn't notice the black man behind him. "Tunnel Rat! You're not supposed to use those kinds of things! You alright kid?"

Lance glanced up at the man, muttering "What kind of man tosses spikes into the road?"

"That would be Tunnel Rat. He tends to get a bit exuberant with… well, he's pretty exuberant," the man said, rubbing the back of his head. "And I see he hasn't just trashed the tread of your feet either."

"It was supposed to be the first day of school for me and now I'm running late," Lance commented, grudgingly looking to where the man called Tunnel Rat was now picking up sites and Todd was asking him questions about his favorite bugs to eat. For some reason, both liked Cockroaches the best.


	3. Sabertooth

Summers drove his red car after the motorcycle, keeping a distance that was hopefully not noticeable to the man who was driving the vehicle. He had the feeling that the wind was currently blowing in their favor. One change, and the older man would smell all four of them and giving Scott's car brand new claw marks to the paint job.

This thought caused the boy to let out a sigh. "And we are doing this why now?"

"For the fun of it!" Kurt blurted out, a huge smile on his face.

"Because we are supposed to be a team," Shadowcat smiled.

"It is seriously untactile for him to go without backup," came Abernathy's reply. "Then again, Scarlet kind of hinted he was like Snakeyes. If that is the case, then I want to see him in action."

"Vell… has anyone noticed that Volverine has disappeared?" the blue fur ball suddenly piped up, just as a car suddenly came dropping out of nowhere. The older Scott turned into an alleyway that was nearby and parked his car.

"I really think this was a bad idea," he groaned. "We really need to be going to class, else we'll end up with _many_ people angry at us, including Jean. We don't want Jean mad at us. Her aim is _really_ good with her telepathy."

"I guess you would know as you are a guy and one of those types that would tick her off easily," Kitty stated phasing through the door and running the parking garage. Abernathy began doing some diagnostics with Scott.

"Do you think that Volverine knew we followed and dropped a car on us?" Kurt suddenly asked.

"Well… he does have a temper, but I don't think that he would purposely do that," Summers sighed. "Unless he purposely made it miss…"

"I don't think that was him," the younger Scott piped up. "Spud's sensors pick up another person in there."

"Yeah… Kitty vent in there," Kurt sighed. "To get sliced and diced by the madman!"

"No… I meant, someone other then Kitty and Wolverine," Scott clicked the board shut.

"Come on Kurt, we have to get in there, teleport us in," Summers stated. "And you're staying in the car as you're supposed to be under out protection!"

As they got into the room, Nightcrawler and Cyclops found that they had to bamph again as a car came flying at them.

As they ended up in a new location, they saw Kitty phase through a car. "That stupid cat was mumbling something about destinies where one squashes the other. Rubbish if you ask me."

"We didn't" the boy with the visor muttered and adjusted the knob to let out a blast at the giant brute. This caused the man to turn around, growling as he did so, running to make a lunge. However, Kitty went and phased him downward and Logan nailed him one on the skull.

"What the hell do you think you two are doing dragging half-pint in here? And I guess that Abernathy is near by too?" Logan growled, very angry over the whole matter.

"Ve came to help!" Kurt protested.

"No… we came to spy from the shadows because we were curious," Kitty stated.

Logan gave her a glare. "You do know that curiosity killed the cat, right?"

"I know… my code name can be Shadowcat!" Kitty stated as the two teenaged boys groaned. "Now we only need to find a code name for Scott… the smaller Scott."

"You are going to school now!" Logan growled. "I have to take care of this piece of trash."

**M**

Lance couldn't be even more miffed as he watched the huge African American lift up the car and replace every single one of the tires on the jeep. Todd was having a nice conversation with the man called Tunnel Rat, though he doubt if one could call disgusting what bugs tasted the best as a decent conversation, but at least they were civil.

"So… the two of you are opening what… a cyber café?" the teenager asked.

"Uhh… yeah," the man smiled, pausing from his work.

"Then why did the moron have road spike?" Lance suddenly asked, catching both of the men off guard. "I may look stupid, but I'm not that stupid."

"Ahh… I was conned into buying the spikes instead of the nails," Tunnel Rat stated. "So I kind of had them left over.

"Is he and idiot?" Lance asked the big guy.

"No more then your buddy over there," the man smiled.

"First off, Todd is not my buddy. Second, he is an idiot, and a major pain in the neck. I am already having to baby sit his sorry ass," Lance grumbled so that the younger boy couldn't hear him.

"I have to do that for Tunnel Rat too, but it doesn't mean he is unintelligent. He's just… doesn't care about such things and likes to goof off," the man sighed, finishing changing the wheels.

"Thanks for the replacement," Lance commented, getting into the driver seat. "Oi! Tolansky, you coming or not!"

"Oh… yeah!" Todd leapt into the other side and Lance took off.

"Nice kids," Tunnel Rat sighed.

"Except they probably have had the same sorry life most Joes had when they were kids," Heavy Duty sighed.

**M**

Jean was waiting outside the school, glancing at her watch. That was when Darkholme came up behind her. "It isn't like you to be missing class, Ms. Grey."

"Oh, sorry. Scott is supposed to be bringing the two new students today, but they haven't arrived yet and I'm a little bit worried," Jean sighed.

"I think that Mr. Wagner might have convinced Summers to head off to a certain burger joint," the woman snarked. "I'll end up writing passes for them, but only because of the fact that Summers is bringing in a new student. Now, hurry along to class please."

Jean nodded her head and took off.


	4. Outsider

Lance honestly wasn't sure how to explain being late to Mystique. He wasn't sure yet if he simply hated the woman, or feared her. " _Scratch that, she's a red head naturally. If course I don't like her. I hate all red heads._ " Letting out a sigh, Lance pulled up to campus, getting out of his jeep and letting Toad take off. Already, Mystique was waiting for him, the woman who had threatened his previous foster family. He shoved his hands into his pockets. " _Great._ "

"No backpack or school supplies Alvers? I am highly disappointed."

"It's not as if I've never _not_ been a disappointment."

"Inside for the placement testing."

"Joy. I don't see the point." He started to walk through the doors just as another car pulled up. The teen found himself taking a deep breath as he noticed Kitty was with three other guys. His hands clenched, realizing that he'd not have the luck of avoiding her, but that they'd be going to the same school again. Lance swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing down, quickly noticing the red-haired kid – the one who came with that strange red-haired woman looking into him changing the grades of the jocks and rich kids in school.

"Alvers."

"Fine. I'm going inside." As Lance turned, he heard Kitty's voice squeak, indicating she'd seen him. It didn't seem like she was pleased. One of the kids spoke in an accent, asking her what was wrong, but he didn't stick around to find out what was exactly happening. He stepped into the office, where Todd was waiting.

"Hi. I was late, so I got sent to the office of course. I'm surprised Mystique didn't send me herself." The kid's tongue darted out, catching a fly. Lance sighed, sitting down in the chair, sliding down slightly. Already he had a negative reputation starting up at this school, which was definitely not a good thing. Not when two people he'd already run into showed up.

Mystique led the four others into the office. "I've let you know Wagner what would happen if this happened again."

The foreign student – for he had an accent – sighed. "Yes, mam."

"You and Todd Tolansky will be serving detention together this afternoon, understood."

Lance flinched upon hearing both kids let out major groans but noticed how they glared at each other. " _Obviously they don't like each other._ "

"Kitty Pride, here is your schedule."

The older of the new teens flinched as Kitty glared at him. "What about Scott? I mean, the younger Scott?"

"He's going to be taking placement testing with mister Alvers today"

The girl stammered. "Well, why? Scott is really smart, unlike L… Alvers."

"Simple. Abernathy is taking the placement testing because he's a child genius and we need to access what advanced classes he'll be in, and for Alvers we need to access what remedial classes he needs to be in." The woman looked at the person who seemed to be the older Scott. "Would you show Pride around? Here is a note for your first period classes when you're done."

"Yes, mam." The teen raised an eyebrow, seeming to have already judged Lance, but that was normal.

"In the meantime, this way to the testing room where you'll be supervised."

Lance stood up, following Scott into the other room. No other students were set up to test, yet he still winced. He sat down, only to have Mystique place a pencil in front of him before turning to the person in charge of the room. He sat in the far corner, hoping the other kid would stay far way from him.. Picking up the pencil, he snapped it in half, attempting to calm himself down before he started an unnecessary earthquake.

"Are you okay?"

The older of the two students flinched, looking up at Scott who was busy getting out his own supplies. "What?"

"I asked if you were okay?"

Lance swallowed. "What the hell. Why are you asking that? Why are you even looking at me?"

"You looked frustrated. You've never taken placement testing before?"

"No." The older of the two let out an irritated sigh, only to have Mystique clear her through from where she spoke to the teacher up front, indicating he should be quiet.

"I've had to do them loads of times."

"Why?"

"I'm an army brat."

"Exactly what does…" Lance took a deep breath. "What do these tests entail?"

"Just treat them like a normal test. It doesn't matter if you get the answers right or not. They're just to test what you know. Fill in what you know first, then go back and fill in the rest, as you might know, it but be drawing a blank."

"Wonderful." The teen sighed, only to wince, one eyebrow shooting up as Mystique glared at him. The teacher in charge moved Scott farther away, almost as if they felt some delinquent would cheat on the test.

Mystique came over, setting two more pencils down. "I don't know _what_ kind of behavior you got up to at your old school, but you are to take this seriously."

"Not as if anyone's taken me seriously." The accusation of plagiarism from the teacher that week still stung.

"The teacher is under orders not to let you out until you complete the whole test, but she will also be checking to see if you half-assed the answers Alvers." With that, Mystique left the room.

Lance winced, knowing it would be a very long day. The other teacher spoke up. "Now, I am going to be handing you these placement tests. Don't worry about being graded on them, they are only to see what you know. Answer what you know, then come back to the rest."

Irritatingly enough, the teacher said the exact same thing that the Scott kid did. He received the test first, and shook his head, hoping a headache wouldn't be coming on. Letting out a deep sigh, he started with what he knew right off the top of his head. Glancing up, he saw that Scott simply filled in everything, but then Mystique had noted that Scott was a genius. Shaking his head, he continued to fill out the questions.

It was no surprise when Scott finished long before him, and he expected the kid to leave, but instead, he sat back down. It had been two hours already of the grueling testing, and already he wanted to throw the entire thing out of the window. Looking back at some of the unanswered questions made him frown, and started jotting down "whys" as to why he didn't know something, like the math symbols which were foreign to him, and then he guessed what the right answer might be. It wasn't a multiple-choice test, which didn't help either.

Then, when he had about what he'd estimate as a quarter of the questions, a headache hit, and he winced. Not only did a headache hit, but so did a mild earthquake. Glancing up at the clock, it was already one o'clock, and his teeth ground together, not at all pleased that he'd missed lunch. A nap usually helped, but so did having some kind of food in his stomach. Scott had left and come back, likely getting his own lunch. As a headache was setting in, it was time to book it, to make sure no damage was caused. He would have booked it sooner, had he not gotten so engrossed in the test and his frustrations.

He didn't notice Scott watching him, let alone getting up to talk to the teacher at the front desk. A hand on his shoulder made him nearly jump out of his skin. "Alvers, are you alright?'

Lance's eyes blinked.

"You don't look alright."

"Assume that I'm on drugs if you want."

"Assume? Why would I assume that?"

"Everybody does 'cause I look it."

"Except that's one disciplinary issue not on your transfer records. Sure, there are notes of accusations and testing, but never any…"

"Screw it!" Lance let out another rumble. "I don't…"

Mystique walked into the room then, glaring, obviously having felt the tremors. He swallowed, looking her right in the eye. "Is something wrong?"

"I don't think Alvers is feeling well." Scott piped up.

"Yes. Abernathy alerted me to the fact. I'd not noticed that Alvers hadn't gone to get lunch."

Mystique walked over, looking down at him and he looked away. "Alvers, look me in the eye."

He looked up, glaring at her. "I'm fine."

"No, you're not. Nurses office, now."

He swallowed, remembering that she said he was to stay in the class until the test was done. "I'm going to finish the test.

"Alvers, the test has college level questions in each section. I don't expect you to actually be able to answer _any_ of those questions. Nurse's office now. She can figure out what's wrong with you."

"I know what's wrong."

Lance flinched, hoping that someone hadn't figured out about those headaches which made him feel like a major pansy. Mystique took a deep breath. "And what pray tell may be wrong?"

"He's not eaten lunch."

"Abernathy, you finished the test. Why are you still even at school?"

"My ride is still at school."

"And you didn't think to call up the institute to have one of the adult guardians over there to come and pick you up?"

Scott shrugged his shoulders. "Not really anything I can do there without the other kids."

"Then if you don't mind, I'm sending you on an errand." Mystique scribbled a note on paper and sent Scott off before taking the test from Lance. She began to flip through the pages, one of her eyebrow's shooting up. "Interesting."

She walked over to talk to the teacher supervising the test, showing her what she had found. The other teacher shook her head. Lance swallowed, closing his eyes to try and abate the headache, only for them to snap open. This usually meant – the looks on the faces that is – that they were thinking he'd done something, and that they'd managed to catch him in the act. The other teacher was even shaking her head as Mystique asked a few questions, before speaking up.

"Look, I didn't cheat." Lance felt a twinge and one of his eyes twitching. An earthquake went off.

"Alvers, if I ever catch you…"

In other words, they hadn't caught him cheating, but suspected it. "… cheating, I'll be expelled. I know the drill."

"I was going to say, if I ever catch you skipping lunch again, you'll be in serious trouble." Mystique turned back to talking to the teacher.

Lance's eyes widened, letting out a groan. His eyes closed, wondering what they could be talking about if not cheating, as Mystique seemed amused by his reaction more than anything. Scott came back in and said something to Mystique before heading over to take his seat again. Lance closed his eyes, ignoring the fact the door opened again as well as the conversation the second person had. If it was some kind of officer to take him away to juvi again, he didn't want to know.

That was until the sound of a trey being set down in front of him drew his attention. His eyes blinked before he looked up to see what must have been one of the cafeteria people. Mystique looked him directly in the eye. "Again. If I catch you skipping lunch again, you'll be in serious trouble. After you're done eating, head to the nurse's office for the rest of the day."

She didn't though tell him _what_ she was talking to the other teacher about.


End file.
